Category Archives: Inquiry and Project Based

 

 

 

 

 

“First you have to find out how many squares you have and how big they are.Then you have to make your design, and then we planned it out with paper. We did it once with the fabric and planned it. Then we had to draw it out. Then we started sewing. The sewing was quite fun”

Since May 1st I have been making a quilt with my class. This has been a huge project and an area of growth for my students. A lot of planning was required! On my part and for the students.

The challenges:

– Each student was given their own fabric which I had pre-cut into 12cm X 12cm squares. Because the fabric that was donated came in different quantities each student had a different amount of squares. The range was 12-18. Each student measured their squares and found the area and perimeter each square, and of all of their fabric together.

– Students then had to work together cooperatively to plan and create blocks. We used paper triangles to plan our patterns. Students also had to figure out how many groups of two, three and four their fabric could make in order to plan the size of each block.

-Quilt Blocks were either 2 X 2, 3 X 3, or 4 X 4, in other words – 4 squares, 9 squares or 16 squares!

– Each quilt block or combination of blocks had a variety of intersecting lines, parallel lines and angles within triangles. Protractors, measuring tape and rulers helped us look closer and the complexity within each piece.

-To piece our quilt together we needed to rotate, translate and sometimes reflect the patterns.

The quilt has been an ever-changing complex and authentic math problem for our class. We covered all kinds of math concepts in geometry, numeracy and visuospatial thinking. We have had to change our thinking and evolve with the project, myself included. At first I thought that each student would be able to use up all their squares in the quilt. One of the students in my class collected measurements from each student and calculated that if we used all our squares our quilt would be over 150 feet! We had to change our plan! Shape and space has to be my favourite part of math. This project has been too fun, for me and the students!

Quilting has also been an interesting look into the past for us. Quilting is a huge part of the heritage of our community. Before we began this project we looked at quilt from the online archives of our local museum.

Aside from the math this project has been amazing for social emotional learning. There is a lot of self-regulation required in sewing. We have discussed at length in our class the “zone” you need to be in to quilt. You need to be calm and focused to help use the machine. To do the sewing the students pinned the pieces together. Then either myself or the LST would sit at the sewing machine with the student. We would then work as a team to make the seams. I would use my hands on the machine and the student would use their hands to control the pedal. Pushing on the pedal too hard or too fast would result in uneven and messy seams – so students need to be calm and steady!

We learned about ways to reduce risk and be safe especially when using sharp pins, scissors and the machine. This project has been amazingly community building. I really encouraged the students to try and work with someone new by choosing a partner based on what fabrics go together. For the most part almost everyone worked with someone in the class they don’t usually spend a lot of time with. Social-Emotional Learning can be a puzzle when it comes to assessment. This situation was a lot easier for me- I can look at the quilt coming together and see the cooperation and new friendships.

The students are so proud of this project. We hope to enter our quilt in a local competition.

After caring for these creatures since they were caterpillars we released our painted lady butterflies in the school gardens. We were sad to see them go, but we wanted the best for them! We treated them with love and care in our classroom and now they are ready for one of the earths more important jobs! Being a pollinator!

Having living things in the classroom was never part of my plan this year but the experience has been so enriching for the students and for me I would most definitely do it again. In caring for our caterpillars recently, and our salmon I have seen students organize themselves, take initiative, be responsible, make observations, ask questions, be gentle and act lovingly. We are stewards of the earth!

Something I have found challenging so far during this practicum is the organization of the physical space of the classroom. The class is a unique challenge because almost all the learning every day is project based. At any given time we may have 2-3 projects happening simultaneously.

Keeping the space clean and organized is a big priority for me this term.

Here are some simple strategies I’ve put into place to get organized

• File folder- I have a file folder with one section for every student in the class where I keep completed work, documentation and evidence of learning that I intend to use for assessment
• New attendance system – picture based and student directed. When you come in during the morning, put your face in the basket to let me know you are here! The students love it, they find it hilarious.
• Visuals on the board to indicate progress. I have devised a simple system using magnets of the student’s names and tape. The students indicate where in a project they are so I know when I can move on to teaching the next thing.

This upcoming week I will be taking my spring cleaning craze to the next level. I’ve been driving around my car today to look for good condition items on the curb that can help organize the class.

• One desk group has been having some conflicts over loose papers piling up and making a mess. After meeting with the group our simple agreed upon solution is to have a basket at the desk for the four students to put their recycling in. I found a suitable basket this weekend at the thrift store. We’ve planned to meet again at the end of this week so I’ll see how it works.

• I have picked a basket for planners from some of the things one of my neighbours put out. Starting this week students will leave their planners in a basket by the bleachers in order to expedite writing in our planners at the end of the day to give us more time for working on all our projects and getting them cleaned up!

• Lemon and vinegar inquiry… All week I have had a jar full of vinegar, water, half a grapefruit peel and half a lemon peel on one of the tables in the classroom. I have set it up as a provocation, something I’ve been learning through my reggio  inquiry. Students have many speculations about it… Some think that there are pears inside. Some students think I am making lemon aid. Many students think it is something I’m going to use for science fair. I will be adding a plastic spray bottle to this provocation to see if I can nudge students thinking towards making our own cleaners for the classroom. If this is a topic students become interested in it will fit perfectly with our study of measurement.

I was very nervous about April Fools Day looming on the third day back from Spring Break. I was worried that some of the students in the class would think it was funny to do ‘pranks’. I don’t like pranks- they don’t really fit in with our classroom guidelines of take care of yourself, take care of others and take care of this place. I did a short lesson the day before April 1 about “The Smile Lady” to introduce the idea of Random Acts of Kindness. We created a venn diagram comparing pranks and RAKs. Our class found that pranks mostly embarrassed people or created a mess. RAKs however filled buckets, made people smile and made people feel appreciated. What pranks and RAKs have in common is that they can both be unexpected and spontaneous.

This really helped me redirect some of the energy the students had. We spent a little bit of time creating proposals for RAKs. Some people chose to work alone and some people chose to team up with someone else in the class. Every person submitted an idea and had it approved by me. I set up a couple basic rules for RAKing someone

– the RAK should not embarrass the person

– the RAK should not create a mess

– the RAK should cost very little to no money

– the RAK should not disturb anyone during school time

I loved the creativity that followed… I could not stop smiling. Some people left short anonymous notes with kind compliments on them. Some people cleaned the classroom. Someone chose to put a tablecloth on the bleachers and prepare a nice snack for the class. The day was full of kind surprises for those in our class and around the school. We even RAKed an entire class together as a team! The best part was that the RAKs actually continued the day after as well- the students in the class have found that doing nice things for others (even if it’s something small) feels incredibly rewarding!

I’m proud to say that not one person from my class did any pranks this April Fools day.

What we wonder about…

Why are we not immortal?

Is the science fair good or bad?

What’s so great about bacon?

What is the brain?

What is the reason people can’t sleep?

What is colour?

Why is orange called orange and not yellow?

Will the sun ever die?

How did humans find out about electricity?

Why do people like sweet things?

Why humans need hair?

Why do we have money?

How do people sneeze?

Is there life on another planet?

Why am I Canadian?

More updates on science fair coming soon:

https://blogs.ubc.ca/lamba/

Getting started on our science fair!

I chose to introduce the science fair using an activity called “Compass”.

It’s all part of the theory and practice that goes with Ron Ritchart’s- Making Thinking Visible project. I’ve been itching to try out some of the “thinking routines” since I read the book over the winter break and then attended the workshop.

I of course ended up adapting it quite a bit for my class but I think I hit the key goals of a “minds on” activity that provides documentation of learning. The compass was also perfect because the class had just recently started learning about maps.

This activity gave me tons of information about where the students are at before our science fair gets underway. I’m very serious about gathering student input and interest in the projects I do. I wanted the students in our class to have the opportunity to voice their thoughts right from the beginning.

Here is what the centres stand for:

N- is “Needs” – What do you think you will need to do the science fair project?

E- is “Excited”- What are you excited about for science fair?

S- is “Steps and Supports”- What steps will you need to take to be successful in your project? Who can support you?

W- is “Wonder”- What do you wonder about? In this case- what is a “W” question you might want to explore or learn about during the science fair.

These four directions got students thinking about how much time they would need, what questions they had, what they were interested in, who they would turn to for help, what they like… and it’s all documented for us to look at and think about!

The documentation is meaningful- it’s not for ornamental purposes- it informs and guides our future learning.

A really exciting day. The students in this class love being role models. Many students have leadership positions within the school. Some students have been asking about getting “a buddy class”. We decided instead of having one buddy class- we would offer to be buddies to any class. Our class put it out to the whole school that any class would be welcome to come by our room to see our recently hatched alevins. Alevins are baby salmon who are still holding onto their yolk sack. Division 15 took us up on our offer! We spent a little bit of time in the morning working on our graphic novels (Grasper!) but after that we got busy preparing for the arrival of the Ks and 1s!

I facilitated the preparations and supported the students in planning all kinds of details:

-where the students would sit (we decided they might like the carpet inside the bleachers because that area was the most similar to their classroom)

-what kind of voices we should use when talking to the Ks and 1s (slow and soft voices, a loud room might scare them)

-how to help someone in kindergarten with printing their name or other words (tell them they are doing a good job- or let them trace your writing-)

-how to make a skit of the salmon life cycle seem funny to younger children (we thought about using objects they were used to- like using a lunch kit to represent the yolk sac!)

-how to get the students to pay attention to us and know we are ready to start (I taught the students a criss-cross-applesauce song I knew so that they had something to get the K/1s attention)

After all the basics were planned one group of students asked to stay in at lunch to decorate the room in a special way for the Ks. I helped the group get organized. We put oil pastels in small cups and even decorated the tables with small rocks, shells and glass beads to represent the bottom of a river.

The Ks and 1s may have learned a lot about salmon, but the grade 5 students did a lot of learning too! Every student was incredibly kind and gentle when interacting with younger students. The student’s planning and organization skills were excellent. I was very proud of the students.

Favourite moment: A K student gets really excited, one of the students in my class notices and brings over a glittery sensory bottle for the student. “Here you can shake this and then watch it, it will help you calm down”